Work

Medical careers and health care for Indian women: patterns of control

Year: 1994

Type: article

Abstract: In the 1880s reform-minded men and women in Great Britain had joined the missionaries and a number of Indian reformers in demanding that Western medical care be extended to Indian women. The subjects of their concern were high-status Indian women who observed the norms of seclusion. British women, at this time entering the medical profession, supported this initiative because it legitimized their professional goals and promised employment. This paper explores the introduction of medical care for Indian women with reference to the life of Dr Haimavati Sen (c. 1867-1932), ‘lady doctor’ in charge of an exclusively women's hospital in Hughli district of Bengal. The paper explores two issues: the ways in which imperialism, feminism, and racism worked to marginalize Indian women in professional medical roles and the impact of this process upon women as patients and clients.

Source: Women s History Review

DOI: 10.1080/09612029400200067

Author: Geraldine Forbes

Institution: State University of New York at Oswego

Language: English

Topic: Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Reduced inequalities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Smithsonian Institution, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Institute of Indian Studies, Government of the United Kingdom